Bowing in part to political pressure, the Transportation Security Administration will not allow knives on airplanes, reversing a decision once favored by the government agency’s top administrator.

The TSA announced proposed changes to the prohibited items list in March, with plans to allow knives with blades shorter than 2.36 inches, as well as some sports equipment, such child-size baseball bats, hockey sticks and golf clubs.

Many flight attendants, pilots and even airline executives opposed the switch, saying it would make cabins unsafe. The change also outraged scores of elected officials, including Los Angeles-area Democratic Reps. Janice Hahn and Maxine Waters.

In response, the TSA postponed implementation, which had been set to begin in late April. But, as recently as last week, TSA Administrator John Pistole indicated the agency was still considering relaxed restrictions, saying screeners should be more concerned about explosives than small-bladed knives.

TSA’s statement on Wednesday retracting the new policy was vague, but it appears all the political and airline industry pressure was effective. Earlier this spring, 145 members of Congress wrote the TSA to ask the agency not to implement the new plan.

“I just felt like it was such a step backward with all the progress we have made since 9/11,” Hahn said. “I travel twice a week. I know that the thought of passengers carrying even small knives put a lot of people at risk and in danger. We have all been on flights when passengers get angry or have too much to drink.”

In April, Hahn and Waters joined several flight attendants for a “No Knives on Planes” news conference and leafleting session outside the international terminal at Los Angeles International Airport.

“There was such an outcry from the traveling public, with the flight attendants, the pilots, and the ground crew people at LAX expressing their dismay,” Hahn said. “All the stakeholders that mattered were against this. I think they just went with common sense.

Dante Harris, a United Airlines flight attendant and president of the Association of Flight Attendants Council 12 – Los Angeles, said he is pleased with the TSA’s reversal.

“I think it’s absolutely absurd to have knives on board a plane,” Harris said. “I was just traveling myself for union business, and they took away my toothpaste, and they had three officers looking at my toothpaste. Yet they were going to put knives on planes. It just doesn’t many any sense.”